REGINA — Saskatchewan's two major airports were not spared from the North America-wide winter storm that wreaked havoc over the weekend.
Compared to many airports, Regina International Airport (YQR) did not end up too badly off, with most flights running on or close to schedule. But direct flights to Toronto and any connections for passengers travelling in eastern Canada and the U.S. were heavily impacted.
According to AirNav, four Air Canada morning direct flights from Regina to Toronto were cancelled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, with two flights cancelled on Sunday. Two WestJet flights to Calgary were also cancelled on Monday.
Arriving Air Canada flights from Toronto were also impacted, with one flight on Friday and two on early Monday morning being cancelled.
YQR confirmed in an email that they did have multiple flights to Toronto operated by Air Canada, as well as some flights to Calgary via WestJet, cancelled over the weekend. But they noted the flight board was looking better today with no cancellations as of 11 a.m. that morning.
YQR also offered the following statement: "Here in Saskatchewan, we know how harsh winter weather can affect flight schedules, and when major hubs like Toronto are hit with that kind of weather, the effects can reach across North America, as Toronto is Canada's largest and busiest hub."
It was a similar story out of Saskatoon. While John G. Diefenbaker International Airport reported most departures as having gone ahead over the weekend, two Air Canada direct flights to Toronto were cancelled on Saturday and three more on Sunday, according to AirNav.
The disruptions did not come as a surprise. On Friday, Air Canada had posted on X that it expected air travel operations “could be affected by the extreme cold and winter conditions linked to the polar vortex passing through Canada and the United States in the coming days.” They said flexible booking change options were being offered to passengers.
Pearson Airport reported being hit hard by the snowstorm on the weekend. The airport posted on the X platform that they received 46 cm of snow in one day — their largest amount on record.
They also reported their snow-clearing operations were running around the clock. Despite those efforts, there were still reports of “hundreds” of flight cancellations at Pearson over the weekend, with about half the flights cancelled and many others delayed during the height of the bad weather on Sunday.
A similar story was being reported out of Ottawa and Montreal, as well as in the eastern U.S., where New York’s LaGuardia airport was closed during the height of the storm. Winter storm conditions were wreaking havoc right into the Deep South of the U.S. on the weekend.
According to the AirNav flight tracker, the situation is returning to normal at Pearson Airport, with flights able to resume.
